Flame Vs Flame
by Outre
Summary: When the Elric brothers are attacked, there is only one man that can track down the one responsible. But will he be able to stand against one gifted in alchemy of this level?
1. Kidnap

**Flame Vs Flame**

**Chapter 1 - Kidnap**

Walking through the streets of East Central, I contemplated my mission; the hood of my full length jacket covering any suspicious looks that may appear on my face - along with the wickedly painful and fresh scar on the side of my face. Though I was sure that the jacket brought more suspicious stares my way than normal, I didn't really care much. Once I finished this mission properly I would be free to leave this stupid town, and do as I pleased until another mission came up – or I needed the money of course.

I wondered what those who 'hired' me would think if they found out I had messed up the mission on the first try; my reputation would probably go down the drain if anybody found out. That was what today was about though, if I could get my mark today than there needn't be any questions about yesterday. To them, yesterday wouldn't have happened – didn't happen.

Damn, I can't believe I let them get the jump on me, and when I was so close too! It shouldn't have surprised me that the Military had shown up, considering whom it had appeared I was targeting. Then again, they may have shown up even if they had known my real target. There was no doubt in the possibility of my name being on a wanted criminals list. Or a missing persons. Not that I was missing; I knew exactly where I was. 'Jen is in East City searching for her mark', how hard is that to forget?

Over the heads of the crowded business street, I spotted my target; though it was easy to spot him, he was such a large target I'd have to be blind not to see. Falling into step a few metres behind him, I silently watched and followed until they came to a less populated area. The moment they stepped into the quiet part of town, I seized the chance to make up for yesterdays mistakes. This time there would be no mess and no fuss... well, for me at least.

"Morning," I said calmly, removing the hood, my purple hair catching in the breeze with its new found freedom. The tall guy in the armour and the short blonde walking next to him turned immediately at the sound of my voice.

"It's you again!" The blonde yelled, pointing at me dramatically. Unable to stop it, a wide grin spread across my face.

"Yes, it is. Surprise, surprise." I said taking slow, deliberate steps towards them. "Now normally, I would be thinking that it **insane** to go after the same target two days in a row. But no, you - _you _look like someone that is just itching to fight me. So why not? I mean I was having fun yesterday until the military showed up; I just hate it when they do that."

"The military will catch you this time!" This time it was the armour that spoke, not that it mattered, I was just messing with their heads. Though it could be called talking to myself, which sounds much more insane.

"Well, you see now, there's the problem. I've set up a couple of things that will keep the military busy for a while." I pulled out a watch and watched the second hand move. "You should be able to witness it from here it – 3, 2, 1."

There was loud explosion off to the east, close enough to shake the ground we stood on. A tower of fire and smoke became visible over the buildings in moments. The brothers looked on with shocked expressions, the blonde transmuting his automail arm into a blade. He lunged at me but I side stepped and pushed him off balance.

"Don't get so fired up, you'll miss half the show. Over there this time." I pointed in the direction of the next explosion, and it went off, just as I'd set it up to do. Now the military would be too busy to look after a State Alchemist and his brother. I charged at the blonde, slamming him into a wall, his head cracking loudly before he slumped limply to the ground. Ducking, I just missed getting knocked out as well; the fist of the armoured one faster than I would have thought it be – I found that out the hard way last time. He was going to be hard to pin down.

"Hey! Where are you taking me? Put me down. Put me down!"

"Love to do that, but you see - if I don't bring you back with me I'm not gonna get paid. So nothing personal, 'kay?" The armoured one continued to struggle; there wasn't anywhere for him to go down here though. I'd chained up his arms and legs to slow him down, though by now I knew that chains were not going to last for long. He was a soul attached to armour, normal human strength meant little to him; he was as strong as the armour itself.

"Who is paying you?" he asked. Figuring we'd gone far enough for now, I put him down against the wall of the tunnel, my shoulder aching from his weight.

"That's the question you're going to ask? Not why someone would put a bounty on your head? Or how I'm able to carry around a six foot suit of armour?" I sat down against the opposite wall. "You've got strange priorities."

"I'm not that one kidnapping people for money," he said sharply. I laughed, he had fire in him like his brother, but it wasn't going to last - not once he got to _them_. Nobody who got sent to them ever came back the same way that they were before, and I was possibly one of the only people on the outside that knew that well.


	2. Search And Rescue

**Flame Vs Flame**

**Chapter 2 – Search And Rescue**

Military troops and police rushed all over the area, doing the best they could to deal with the aftermath of two explosions with the centre of East City. There were rescue squads to be organised, people to be found, evidence to be investigated, injuries to be treated. Yet, nobody noticed the boy with a red coat, bleeding in an alleyway barely a few metres from either of the explosions.

Well, not for at least a few hours anyway, by which time he was able to get back up on his feet and walk out of the alley. A pair of Military police caught up with him, and seeing the young blonde's injury, pushed him into the back of their car and rushed him to a nearby hospital. Inside the hospital, the boy's injures were treated to and he was rushed out again with a new influx of injuries from the explosions.

Outside the hospital, a sleek black military vehicle pulled up, the back door opening up to reveal a black haired man dressed in the blue military uniform. He gestured for the blonde to get in, and after a moment's hesitation the blonde got into the car with an annoyed look on his face.

My eyes snapped open at the sound of sirens over head. I glared at the roof of the tunnel, then looked across at the wall opposite me. An eyebrow rose questioningly.

"I fall asleep and you don't even try to escape?" The suit of armour, Alphonse Elric, sat exactly where I had put him a few hours earlier, hands and feet still bound though I was sure he could have broken them if he wanted to. He simply shrugged his shoulders.

"I figured it would be easier to not get you in trouble." I pulled a face then, surely he wasn't this stupid, I had to follow _their_ orders but he had all the freedom in the world. Not that it was going to last long with his stupidity.

"Does that mean I don't have to carry you anymore?" I asked stretching out the muscles in my arms. He nodded and I unbound his feet so he could walk, but kept a close eye on him in case he tried something. After a while I drifted off in the blankness of the tunnels, thinking about how I planned to spend my money from this job. How I was going to avoid having to ever do this again; it was disgusting knowingly taking part in _those_ peoples plans, but I had no choose anymore. Not after what had happened to me. Shivering slightly, I shook off the dark thoughts and continued forward through the endless tunnels.

He didn't know what he was willingly heading towards, that Alphonse, it would change him more than he could imagine. Then again, if what they said about him was true, what could seriously change an empty suit of armour?

"Hawkeye! Have this description circulated. Havoc! Breda! Search criminal records for anyone that could match this description."

"Sir!" The three named military officers marched off with the copies of the description given by the FullMetal Alchemist. Their commanding officer, Colonel Mustang, then turned to the FullMetal.

"**You** should rest; there is nothing you can do for your brother now. I'll have bodyguards assigned to you until this is over." The blond alchemists face started to turn red with rage as he considered yelling at the Colonel, but then deciding against it he left the room slamming the door behind him.

Outside, crossing from the offices to the dorms, the fresh air seemed to push away most of the blonde's anger allowing him to think more clearly. Glancing around, he didn't see his bodyguards or anybody that would stop him, and after hesitating for only a moment he took off towards the front gate, out into the city for clues about who took his brother. Upstairs in the office building, the Colonel watched as FullMetal darted across the courtyard and out into the city. Sighing, knowing that the blond wasn't going to listen to reason until his brother was found, he headed out to aid the search for the missing Elric brother. In the hall Lieutenant Havoc caught up with him and matched his pace.

"Sir, I think I know who the attacker is..." Havoc hesitated, searching for the right words. Mustang gave him a look, as they continued at a fast pace down the hall, and he started speaking again. "It's my sister..."


	3. Unbearable Quiet

**Flame Vs Flame**

**Chapter 3 – Unbearable Quiet**

Glancing around the first location, possibly only better described as a check point – though as always there was nobody else to be seen nearby – I searched for something that would point towards the next 'check point'. As the times before, I hoped that after the next check point I would get the drop location and my money, though with every time before I would have to travel back and forth across the city before I'll find that out. It's not like I can just know the drop location from the start and save everyone a bit of time.

Noticing a brick that was sitting out in the middle of a brick wall, I used my fingernails to pull it out further revealing a piece of paper behind it. Committing the next location to memory, I flicked my wrist backwards and using the alchemical device attached there, burnt the note.

"You're an alchemist?" Alphonse asked, stepping closer. I looked up at him for a moment before deciding how best to answer him.

"Yeah... have been for a while..." I glanced back at the brick that I had shoved back into place. _They_ were the ones that first made me use alchemy, though I can't say they taught me anything – it was either do or die. Gesturing for Alphonse to follow me, I started off towards the next location.

You'd think it'd be easy for the Military to track down a person on the run, even more so when they have kidnapped a six foot tall suit of armour. But after hours of searching, they still seemed no closer to finding them. Havoc had a weird feeling growing in his stomach at how close he was to getting his sister back after all these years, and it took everything he had to stop himself from biting some ones head off at what seemed to be a complete waste of time.

It was then that a lead finally surfaced; a couple had been out for a stroll when they'd spotted a woman and a large man in a suit of armour climbing out of the sewers. Reportedly, they'd headed east, circled around a back street several times, before heading south towards the outskirts of town. Organizing as many soldiers and military police that could be spared, Colonel Mustang set up a number of patrols to narrow down the location of – and corner – the kidnapper. He himself would lead a group to directly confront the woman and arrest her.

Jean worried little about this plan; it was solid and sure to corner the kidnapper. What he worried about was if he was really correct that the kidnapper was his baby sister, how would she react to this show of force? He couldn't do more than guess at that; it was twelve years ago that she had disappeared off the face of the planet – nobody had known where she'd gone, or even if she had been kidnapped.

This was nothing like how he had imagined finding his sister again – then again, the way he had imagined it had been a bit out there. Somehow finding the place she was being held, and storming in guns blazing, wiping out all of the enemy without so much as breaking a sweat wasn't the most realistic rescue attempt ever. The most that he could do now was hope that Mustang would give his sister the chance to come quietly.

It has been at least twelve hours since I'd kidnapped the younger Elric brother, and we'd already made it a few kilometres from the second location. This simple fact was making me nervous, it made me sick to have to go through with _their_ plans, but there was nothing I could do about it. What was making me seriously worried was the fact that we hadn't had any run-ins with the Military yet, nothing, not even close. Surely they couldn't be this useless, I'd kidnapped the brother of a high profile State Alchemist, they should be giving everything they've got to find him. Yet there wasn't hide nor hair of them.

Which, honestly, was making me see them coming at us from around every corner – and my wrist would twitch defensively before I knew that they weren't there. I'd walked like that since we'd left the first location, ready to attack anything that moved towards us.

Suddenly the street became too quiet, I stopped. Damn it, I couldn't hear the echoing footsteps of a six foot suit of armour. I spun around, ready to burn up whatever ambush I had just walked into. Only there was nothing there, no ambush or anything – damn that paranoia. That was when I realized exactly what street we were on – it was one of the few streets in East Central that didn't have any alleys or adjoining streets for at least a kilometre. With most of the buildings along it taller than average, it was the perfect place to set up an ambush – and I'd walked start into it!

Flames exploded to life in front of me, cutting me off from Alphonse, the flame burning close enough that I could have reached out and touched them. Cursing I backed up and turned around, only to be faced with guns pointing at me from every angle. My day could not get much worse.


	4. Ambush

**Flame Vs Flame**

**Chapter 4 - Ambush**

Havoc stood and watched on silently as Mustang's plan worked to corner the kidnapper, blocking off key streets to route the kidnapper into an ambush. They'd set up many posts along the street, waiting for the right moment to strike – when there was a big enough gap behind the kidnapper and Alphonse to be able to cut the two off.

The moment that happened, Mustang went into action, donning one of his ignition gloves and snapping. Flames burst to life down on the street, creating an impassable wall between the kidnapper and Alphonse. Confident, Mustang strode across the roof towards the stairs and back down to street level, Hawkeye and Havoc flanking him as armed backup in case things got ugly. As soon as the wall of flames appeared, soldiers spilled out to secure Alphonse, herding him away to safety and to his brother. Edward was relieved to finally know that Alphonse was safe, and didn't know whether to shout or dance a jig.

Down on the street, the kidnapper was trapped between armed soldiers and the wall of fire.

Studying my current predicament, I counted seven guns pointed at me, the wall of flames still burning just as fully behind me. There were possibly more guns hidden along the roofs or in the windows further down the street – if I was lucky I could get into a building and off this street with minimal bullet wounds. But that didn't solve the more pressing problem, I couldn't lose Alphonse now – failing to kidnap him once was bad enough, if _they_ find out that I lost him they'd just kill me and send some else to do the job. Maybe I could make it through the flames, if the wall wasn't too thick...

"Don't move!" A deep voice shouted, boots sounding against the paved street. The soldiers surrounding me parted slightly to make room for another military man, with short black hair, and a pair of his own armed escorts.

"Like I'd try something like that!" I laughed, gesturing at the soldiers in front of me. "I don't know what you're looking at, but from where I'm standing there are quite a few guns pointed my way." The man smirked, a small hint of victory colouring the edges.

"Alphonse has been returned to his brother, and though I am sure he will not want to press any charges, it doesn't change the fact that you've broken the law. I'm here to take you into custody."

"Well who died and made you top dog?" I mocked my eyes catching on the silver chain attached to what could only be a state alchemist's pocket watch. "What's your name, Alchemist?"

"Roy Mustang."

"It must be your lucky day, Mr Mustang." I held out my hands in surrender. "You've caught me, so what now? Gonna get your thralls to shot me like every other Military jerk? Or will you take me back and let your higher-ups take a piece out of me?" That's right, goad him, draw him into a fight and we'll see who'll be taking who back to their bosses.

"Jen? Jennifer is that really you?" My eyes snapped towards the new person that spoke, inching back defensively. One of Mustang's escorts had stepped forward, lowering their weapon, I couldn't describe the look on his face but it certainly left a weird feeling in my stomach. The man stepped forward again, and I inched back further. The heat from the wall of fire licked my back, seeping deeper under my skin the closer I got to it.

"Call off your dog, Mustang, or I'll take my chances with the fire!"

"Havoc, back down."

_Havoc?_ My heart pounded against my chest, it's not possible, there's no way that it could be. When they took me, I started a new life, a life that couldn't ever cross paths with the one that had been taken from me. I'm a different person from whom I was, I can't go back there, no matter the cost I will not go back there!

"Jen, it's me, your brother. Don't you remember me?" I inched further back, close enough to the wall of fire that my skin starting to feel like it was on fire itself now.

"Havoc!" Mustang used a stronger commanding tone this time.

"You shouldn't be here Jean! It's not possible! Go away! Go home, I don't want to see you! Go home Jean!" I shouted, both of my wrists flicking back, balls of fire burning to life in the palms of my hands. Throwing them at the two groups of soldiers where they exploded on impact, I took off at full speed, aiming to take out the remaining soldiers before they realised what hit them.

The air shifted strangely around me, and moments after I leaped sideways the air exploded into flames. Gasping and moving away, I heard the sound of fingers clicking as the air shifted again, this time I only just got out of the way the flames burning the right side of my back and arm. Roaring in pain, I stumbled, dropping to one knee - ripping the remains of my sleeve away from my burnt flesh. My vision blurred around the edges as pain flooded my consciousness.

"I haven't had a challenge like this in years." Laughter escaped my throat as I stood up, Mustang's eye slightly wider than they had been before. Several bullets whizzed past me as Mustang's other escort started firing, Jean still standing where he had been before dumbstruck. I didn't move as move bullets whizzed around me, obviously they weren't trying too hard to hit me, when the air shifted again though I made my move.

I ran forward, making it past Jean as he snapped to his senses and levelled his gun to take aim. Lighting another fire ball with my good hand, I pulled up short, holding out the fire threateningly close to Mustang's chest.

"Call them off, Mustang, or I'll kill us both."


	5. Escape

**Flame Vs Flame**

**Chapter 5 - Escape**

"Tell them now, Mustang!" I commanded, still holding the fire ball threateningly. If I was forced to use it against him, it would explode killing him instantly – I, on the other hand, was likely to live a few seconds longer, long enough to feel the pain. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not out to make this a suicide mission, but I had to do this or fear worse results later on. A slight nod of his head and the woman escort lower her gun, though I could still see that readiness in her eyes. Moving the fire ball away from Mustang, a bad feeling started to grow in the pit of my stomach as I held on to the fire ball.

"You are an interesting woman, Jennifer," Mustang commented, that smirk still playing across his lips, though he looked at least a little worried now.

"Pity you won't get to know me then, huh?" I remarked, side stepping around him keeping one eye on the woman – Jean wouldn't shot me, I could tell that from the moment he had stepped forward earlier, but she still might. "Don't worry though, I'll be back so you can regret this day."

"Wait, Jen!" Jean called out to me, I didn't look back at him – Mustang and the woman were more important targets that I had to keep my eye on – but I shifted my head slightly that let him know I was listening. "What happened to you? Where did you disappear to all those years ago? Did someone take you? How did you escape? Why are you back now?"

"So many questions Jean, I don't remember you ever asking this many at once." I felt my lips disobediently pull into a small smile. "I can't tell you anything. You can't tell anyone you saw me, if they find out... don't give them a reason to do to you what they did to me." I shifted to start moving again.

"Come back with me Jen, come back home. I'll protect you from whomever it is you're running from."

Jennifer shook her head sadly as her brother begged her to come back with him, that sad smile disappearing from her lips completely. It was obvious that she couldn't go with him, the ones that she referred to as 'they' – though she only mentioned them once – didn't sound like they were reasonable people. Havoc could see that, he could see that he knew that from the start, from the way she'd reacted to him being there to the way she couldn't look at him now.

She side stepped further around Mustang, and then as soon as she had a clear line of escape, she took off running not even looking back once. Havoc was, well, in shock, there was no better way to describe it. He'd just seen his sister again, after she'd disappeared from the face of the planet some twelve years ago, and she was nothing like he expected.

In all, at least the day seemed to be closing on a better note than that it had begun on... maybe. Alphonse had been returned to his brother, the kidnapper had been identified – and injured – it would be easy to close this case. Jen would have to treat her injuries at some point, or someone would spot her – she couldn't just disappear with those kinds of injuries. Then... well then whatever will happen, will happen.

The pain intensified as I came back down from a battle induced adrenaline high, making it harder to move, harder to put distance between me and the military. Though the burns only affected my right arm and part of my back, it was high on the pain scale, extremely high considering what I've been through. Bracing myself against the pain, I started moving again, desperately looking for a place to rest for a couple of hours.

I couldn't rest for long, I knew I had to get out of the city – maybe cross the boarder – and soon. They will come after me, once they find out that I'd failed, there was no if about it, they always find out and they always hunt down those who fail at the tasks given to them. When they find me these injuries will be so far down on my list of problems that they won't even appear to be a problem. Stumbling into an alleyway I sat down between some stacked boxes and trash bins, resting as I planned my escape from _them_.

"Well, look what we have here!" A voice boomed over me, my eyes snapping open, I hadn't realised I'd fallen asleep until then. Glancing up I saw a man dressed in strange foreign clothes grinning wickedly down at me. "Jennifer Havoc never thought I'd see you in this part of town."

"Who are you? What do you want?" I groaned, wishing the man away so I could rest and plan my escape.

"None of that matters, baby doll. They're gonna be disappointed when they finds out that you failed. Good thing for me I found ya when I did, very good thing, my time to climb the ladder I thinks." There was the sound of a gun cocking, and the man immediately had my full attention. He had to be working for _them_, that was the only reasonable explanation – and if this man was already hunting me down, then there had to be others that knew too. Dauntingly I realised that with every person that already knew, the shorter my time limit was to escape, the harder it will be to escape within that time limit.

"You don't want to do that," I muttered, watching the gun carefully though I hadn't moved yet. His finger pulled back slowly on the trigger, that annoying grin growing larger with the murderous act he was committing. Without thinking, my left arm flew up the wrist snapping backwards creating a spark from the fuel powered alchemic device still attached there. Fire expanding from that point engulfing the man before his trigger finger pulled back far enough. Screams echoed in my ears as I felt heat wash over my flesh, then...

Edward and Alphonse were mulling around town aimlessly, when Al noticed a flash of fire and screams coming from a nearby alley. Rushing down, his brother reluctantly following not far behind, Al found what had once been a man now only a pile of blackened flesh. Near the man was a purple haired woman dressed in rather non-descript clothing; she was breathing heavily and suffering from horrific burns to her right arm and part of her back.

Al gasped, as much as a soul in a suit of armour could, he recognised the woman. She was the one that had kidnapped him not even 24 hours ago. Telling Ed, he uttered some kind of insult before arguing that they should just leave her there after the crap she had put them through, like leaving Ed injured in an alley not too dissimilar to this while she kidnapped Al. Predicably Al argued that she didn't mean to leave brother like that, and she had been forced to kidnap him.

This argument could have lasted a while, but as much as Ed didn't like the woman that had injured him and kidnapped his brother, he couldn't just stand around and let the woman die. Relenting, Ed agreed to at least take the woman to the hospital. Thanking his brother, Al carefully picked up the woman wary of her burns, and carried her off to the nearest hospital.


	6. Hospital

**Flame Vs Flame**

**Chapter 6 – Hospital**

I had a pounding headache when I woke and my right-side was killing me, but what annoyed me most were the voices coming from less than a metre away. They were loud and grating on my already pounding head. Moaning I shifted slightly and opened my mouth to speak.

"If I hear another word, I'll cut your tongue out." My voice came out low and rough, emphasising the threat that bit more, which worked in shutting the voices up as I did not hear other sound for several moments. Then I heard the sound of a wooden door sliding open and closed, I couldn't remember there being any doors in the alley I'd stopped to rest in.

Sharply opening my eyes, I saw the off-white walls of a room that could be one of two things: a hospital, or a lab. Shoed feet moved slowly towards me, my heart starting to race out of control, I felt like I was restrained in place unable to move as those feet came closer. I remembered other times, other rooms with white walls, the footsteps, always the footsteps! Then the man, a tall man, leaning over me, gloves that go to his elbows, a mask – and the blood, oh god the blood, so much blood. Is the blood mine? Where does the blood come from? Why me? Why me? I wanted to scream but I couldn't breathe, my lungs were burning for air, black spots appearing in my vision.

"Jen? Jennifer? She's not breathing! Somebody get a doctor!" A hand clasped mine, warm compared to the cold surface I was lying on. This wasn't right, this wasn't right! More footsteps, hurried voices came into the room. Another hand on my other arm, cold this time, I felt a needle push sharply against my arm, and then... calm, I could breathe again and my heart returned to a normal pace.

"It was just a panic attack," a voice said, "she should be fine now." Footsteps left the room, but the warm hand stayed with mine. Turning my head slowly, I looked at the owner of the hand, his short dirty blonde hair slightly messed, his blue uniform standing out against the white walls. My brother, my brother had found me, I wasn't able to make my escape in time they'll come for both of us now.

"Where am I?"

"The hospital," Jean paused for a moment, worry crossing his features. "The Elric brothers found you lying unconscious in an alley..."

"I'm guessing it was Al's doing," I smiled a little, feeling light headed and weak, must have been the medicine from before. "He's a nice kid... Are you here to arrest me Jean?" He nodded slowly.

"Yeah, the Colonel wanted to ask you some questions. And you are a wanted criminal."

"The Colonel?" I couldn't think of who'd that would be, it was unlikely to be anyone from the military that I had already met; they were rather young to have achieved that rank.

"Name's Roy Mustang," said a new voice as they entered the room. I knew that voice; it was the voice of the alchemist that had caused my burns, dog of the state Roy Mustang.

"You're a Colonel?" I laughed. "Are you a bit young? I mean, I may not know an awful lot about the military, but I know they don't give away those kind of ranks for no reason. Tell me, how many arses does a dog of the state have to kiss before they throw you a bone?"

"Jen-!" Mustang raised his hand to stop Jean from saying anything else.

"Lieutenant, would you step out of the room for a moment." Jean stood up, but I gripped his hand tighter to stop him from moving further.

"Listen to me Jean, you have to get out of the country, forget about me and keep yourself safe. You have to go before they find you, I... I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if they did." Jean looked at me questioningly for a moment before nodding his head, I released his hand and he stepped out of the room, sliding the door closed behind me. I suddenly felt terrible; it has been so many years since I'd seen any of my family, and how I had not only run into my brother under bad circumstances but instead of catching up, I've become a threat to his life forcing him to left the country.

"So you really are the Jennifer Havoc that went missing twelve years ago?" Mustang asked. I rolled my eyes.

"Bravo, Mustang, you solved the case. Never knew you had it in you." I laughed sarcastically.

"Let's get on to the real reason I'm here."

Outside in the hall, Havoc leaned against the wall as close to the door to his sister's hospital room. The full extent of what was happening had yet to sink in, his sister was back yet he felt that if he went about normally it would end up being a dream. And then there was what she had said to him, who were these people that she was so scared of that she had to send him out of the country? Were they the same people that had kidnapped her twelve years ago, or were they different people – worse people?

Havoc didn't know what to do, Jen had been so serious when she told him to get out of the country, and she really was worried for his life. He could have promised her that he'd leave the country, packed his bags and left – but that wasn't like him at all, he couldn't just walk out on everything, and he couldn't just leave his sister now that he had a chance to protect her. Not now that he had a way to protect her.

There had to be a way to convince Mustang that it would be... useful to put Jen in protective custody so that they could find out who hired her in the first place. Maybe they could catch the bad guys and free the 'damsel in distress' so she can finally have her happily ever after.


	7. Play The Game

**Flame Vs Flame**

**Chapter 7 – Play The Game**

Having checked out of the hospital this morning, as according to Mustang's plan, I met up with him and Jean in one of the less populated areas of East City. Stepping inside an empty building, I found Jean and Mustang sitting uncomfortably as if they had been waiting for a while. When I moved closer, Jean stood up removing the cigarette and offering me a smile. Mustang gave me a suspicious look, before standing as well and leaving the room.

"Are you sure about this, Jen?" Jean asked me again, his eyes sparkling with worry. I could guess how he felt; just got back a long lost member of the family, and now they were knowingly walking into an extremely dangerous situation.

"Yes, Jean, I'm sure about this. Why do you keep asking, wasn't this your idea in the first place?"

"Yeah, but-" He seemed to hesitate for the right words, but before he could find them Mustang called out from the other room.

"Havoc, we need to get a move on!" I placed my hand on Jean's shoulder, and smiled.

"I'll be fine, Jean, I swear. You just go do your thing, and I'll do mine." Jean nodded his head, and we left the room. In the other room Mustang and Alphonse were waiting for us, as soon as Jean entered Mustang gestured for him to follow and they left to organise their side of the plan.

"It's nice to see you again, Jennifer. Your burns are not causing you too much pain, are they?" One of my eyebrows moved out slightly as I forgot for a moment the serious burns I'd had taken to my right side only yesterday. Pulling up the sleeve on my right arm, I revealed the tender pink flesh of recently healed burns.

"One of the many things I don't understand or can't explain. I think it's some kind of side-effect, like what happened to the wound your brother gave me the other day. But that's a story for another day, you ready to go?" Alphonse nodded and we set off too, taking up where we had taken off before the military had stepped in the other day.

It was a simple matter now, to track Jen and Al's movements across the city; Jen had given Mustang the location of the next note, so getting the one after that was as easy as having eyes in the area. Which was Hawkeye's part in this; she had eyes on the location of the current note, and would pass this one to those on the ground via Mustang. Mustang and Havoc were at a nearby phone, Mustang on the phone while Havoc stood watch. When they got word of Jen's movements, Havoc was to relay it to Breda and Falman, before moving out.

Hours later Jen and Alphonse stood outside of a large warehouse, possibly the drop location, it was rundown and had a number of signs put up warning of its condemned status making it the ideal place for _them_ to use. Jen glanced around worriedly, checking that her ignition devices were still attached firmly to her wrists. This was the dangerous part of the plan, the part that should things go wrong they will go wrong in a very bad way. Being unable to see the military team that should have been following her, Jen turned back to Alphonse and told him that this was the extremely dangerous part, and that he may not be able to come back from this. Alphonse nodded and said that he understood; that he wasn't going to leave her now.

She seriously wished that Alphonse didn't have to be a part of this, he was a nice kid, about the same age as she was when they had kidnapped her, it wasn't fair to put him through this. Wishing never helped though, Jen knew that too well from her years spent with _them_. Resigning to the facts at hand, Jen headed into the warehouse Alphonse close behind her.

Inside the warehouse was empty, excluding a handful of abandoned heavy machinery possibly to bulky to have been taken with everything else. This had to been the drop location, but there was nobody else here – had they missed their chance? If so then the plan was over, there was nothing else to do but wait, wait for them to hire a hit-man to take Jen out and then spend someone else after Alphonse. Just to be sure, Jen checked the rooms at the back of the warehouse, but they were empty too.

Something wasn't right here, there was no way that they had simply missed whoever it was that they were meant to be meeting here. Sure it was possible for it to happen, but it wasn't likely after so few days had passed, and it was even less likely with no signs of somebody waiting here for several days. There should have been a sign, something to say that there had been somebody waiting here; cigarette butts, empty alcohol bottles, scraps of food packaging, but there was nothing at all!

Alphonse was waiting out in the main area when he heard footsteps, but when he turned around there was nobody to be seen. Maybe it was just his imagination, Jen had not come back yet from searching the other rooms, which was making him nervous – surely she should have been back by now. That was unless we found someone, but then they both should have come back out; it was part of the plan to use whoever was at the drop point to track down the organization behind this. Could their plan be already caught on to, had the organization already known of Jen's betrayal and sent somebody to finish her off?

No, that couldn't be right; if somebody had attacked Jen since they got here he would have heard something. Surely the fight would have spilled out into the main room too. Then there was the other option, the one that Alphonse did not think of; Jen could have been playing them the whole time so that she could get her hands on Alphonse again. Of course that option brought up the question, how long had she been playing them for? Since the military first showed up, or after that when she was in the alleyway suffering from serious burns?

Jen came back out into the main room then, stating that she hadn't found any signs of somebody being here. Before anything else could be said between the two, a number of figures stepped out of the shadows, surrounding Alphonse and Jen. All of the figures wore nondescript clothing, each with something covering their face, armed with an assortment of weapons. They blocked all possible escape routes, the only way out now, was through them.

Weighing up their options, Jen muttered one thing to Alphonse before the strangers completely closed in on them. 'Play the game'.


	8. Them

**Flame Vs Flame**

**Chapter 8 – Them**

Jen and Alphonse stood back to back as the figures from the shadows closed in around them, unarmed while the figures had more than enough fire power to take them down. These people were defiantly here for some serious business, not the drop off this was originally meant to be. It seems like their plan had been seen through, and planned against. Did Jen have something to do with this, no, from the look on her face there is no way she knew this was coming.

Had the figures been in the warehouse from the beginning, or had they entered later? Then the others outside; Mustang, Havoc, Breda and Falman, where they aware of what was happening inside the warehouse? Perhaps they had been attacked, and now lay dying in pools of their own blood.

Then were these people the 'them' Jen had been talking about? The people that had kidnapped her twelve years ago, and done many things to her that she wished not to remember? That would mean that these people were the same ones that had hired Jen to kidnap Alphonse. Does this mean they were planning something like this from the start, to trap them here?

Only one thing was for sure: this was a trap, it had always been a trap – only they had mistaken who the trap had been for.

"You disappoint me, Havoc, thinking you can play both sides. Have you learnt nothing from your years with us?"

"Only that people like you need to burn in hell!" I shouted at the man that spoke, the only one of _their_ leaders that I have ever heard speak. The other leaders hid themselves well, to the point that it was believed that none of the leaders knew all of the others. Alphonse shifted behind me as one of the figures stepped out of line with the others. It was impossible to tell who he was, what his face looked like, as every time I saw him his face was covered almost completely – those eyes were the only part of his face I knew.

"Then take your best shot, but we outnumber you here. The moment you move to spark one of those flames of yours, my men have orders to open fire and continue shooting until they run out of ammo. Even you won't be able to recover from those kinds of injuries." The odds were very out of our favour, worse that he knew everything about me, even some of the things that I didn't. Maybe if we had more people on our side we'd stand a chance, but the only people that could help are outside – if only we could alert them to the trouble. "Oh, and don't think about calling for your military friends outside. They are to be dealt with soon enough... on a **permanent** basis."

"Amazing," I laughed, doing my best to find even a scrap of humour in this situation to make the laugh sound realistic. "I knew I could fool those military dogs, but for you to fall for it too? That is just amazing; my acting must be getting better." The man hesitated for a moment before laughing too, and I worried slightly; which story was it that he believed was the truth, the one that I had just used before or one of the many others I had used in the past?

"Ha ha, just keeping you on your toes, Havoc." There was a pause in his speech. "I hear you failed to kidnap this one on your first try, and then you let the Military take him back and injure you in the process. Terrible news if I'd ever heard it, I was going to terminate you the moment I heard it, but now that you're here I think I have a better way for you to make up for your mistakes."

"Thank you for giving me this chance." This is bad, very bad – he had to be on to me, there was no way that he simply decided to give another task now, rather than taking me back to one of _their_ buildings. That would have been a normal way to deal with failure, I have never known them to leave a failure go unpunished, no matter what. I would have more scars than anyone could count covering my body, if this body of mine could scar after what _they_ have done to me.

"We want you to get us the one known as Second Lieutenant Jean Havoc." My heart thudded the wrong way in my chest at those words, and I could see how this was all going to end reflected in his eyes. I am going to die, no matter which path I take – it was either going to happen now if I tried to take these guys down. Or it was going to happen later after watching _them_ put my brother through so many unbearable experiments. Without conscious thought, my defensive stance dropped, and I nodded my head in agreement, before my feet took me to the door.

"Jen! Wait, you... you can't seriously be thinking of doing this – the Lieutenant, he is your brother. Could you really hand your brother over to these people?"

_Could I?_ Was that really what I was heading out to do? I hadn't thought to do that, but now that I did think about it that was what I had been heading out to do. Handing my brother over to these people wasn't something that I wanted to do, I had even gone to lengths to hide who I was so that people wouldn't go after my family, so _they_ would hopefully forget about my family. There was something that struck me then, a realisation of why I had moved to get my brother without thinking – _they_ were the reason for it. It was that look he had given me, his eyes had stared straight into mine as he had said those words.

"You... What... What did you do to me?" He started laughing then, a bone chilling laugh.

"Fear of punishment isn't the only way to keep the rats in line, Havoc. We know all the tricks of the trade."

There was something wrong going on inside the warehouse, Mustang and his team had yet to have a sighting of either Jennifer or Alphonse since they had entered more than two hours ago. Havoc was starting to get the jitters, which was a signal for him that this mission was going downhill – and he could tell from the way Mustang was holding himself, that he wasn't the only one getting that feeling.

Something should have happened by now, either Jennifer and Alphonse would have come back out, or they would have sent the signal to move in. Seeing as how neither of those things had happened, something had to be going down inside that warehouse, and after seeing the kind of opponent Jennifer was, it had to be serious. Whoever else was in there couldn't have gone in after they'd set up a perimeter though, otherwise somebody would have seen them. That only left the option that they had been inside before they'd even gotten there.

Havoc thought this over in his head, preparing himself for what might happen next; yet he missed a much more important option. There was the option that Jennifer had screwed them over, played them like a harp so that she could kidnap Alphonse again and lean them into an ambush. Havoc would be reluctant to believe that if someone pointed in out to him, but Mustang was already planning out his moves should it turn out that way.

One thing was for certain though, if they didn't get some movement soon, then they'd have to go to Plan B and charge the building, weapons drawn.


	9. Light 'em Up!

**Flame Vs Flame**

**Chapter 9 – Light 'Em Up**

"Is this from one of your 'experiments'? How did you control me?" I felt the stress bubble up in my chest, making it feel tight like I could explode from the strain. If it was really something that he did to make me follow orders unquestioningly, then I all the freedom I've ever had was fake. _They_ have been controlling me more than they've ever let on, more than anyone had ever suspected. That means that anything, everything I'd ever thought that I had decided for myself, hadn't really been decided by me – _they_ had been deciding for me.

"Experiment? That hurts me, Havoc," There was this strange noise coming from his throat, it sounded like a snicker, but there was something more to it something that I didn't have the words to describe. "We weren't experimenting on you - we were improving you, making you stronger, giving you abilities that other humans can only dream of. Did you really think we'd give all of that to you and not take some safety measures?"

_Safety measures?_ The words echoed in my head, as I felt a knot build in my throat. He made it sound like I was some kind of creature that he had created and perfected, that existed for only one purpose. A creature that was to remain caged at all times other than those that when it needed to serve its purpose, and even during those times it was to be kept on a short leash. It was a creature that I had been made into.

Suddenly two pairs of hands closed around my arms, twisting them behind my back, pinning my wrists so that I couldn't spark any fire. The moment I instinctively fought against their grip, it tightened painfully, twisting my arms further behind my back. I gasped as pain shot through my right arm, the burns still tender though completely healed. The men behind me shoved, pushing me towards the one that always spoke; panic took over me as I realized that they were planning something I couldn't escape from.

"Jen?" Alphonse called, his scared voice echoing throughout the empty suit of armour. I had almost forgotten he was here, and the reason why we were both here. Guilt struck me for a moment, as I remembered the promise I gave; I was failing that so completely now.

"Al! Al, you've got to get out of here!" I shouted at him, forcing my steps to slow. "Get as far away as you can! Warn Jean, please warn him – tell him to do whatever it takes. Tell him to forget about me, t-tell him I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise." The men pushed me forward with renewed effort now, trying to silence any spark of hope I could have found in the armoured boy. "Tell Mustang... tell Mustang to 'light 'em up', tell him. Run Alphonse, please run!"

My words seemed to blend together in the stillness, despair settling over me, as the men pushed me forward. They could have figured out what I'd been trying to say, but that didn't seem to matter to me at the moment. This wasn't the end I had seen coming for me, but I knew that it was better than I deserved; I'd dragged good people into this, and now their lives will forever be in danger because of me. Maybe if I had just been stronger, I would have been able to defy _them_, to take my life back or to end it before I destroyed the lives of people better than myself. Maybe if I hadn't fought so hard to survive all of those experiments, then I wouldn't have ever needed to be strong, and I wouldn't have destroyed their lives. If just one of those maybes had come to pass, then I wouldn't be the creature I am today, totally unworthy of life.

"Havoc." I wouldn't look at the man, it was the most that I could do for the people outside that I was dooming to a life as a lab rat or on the run from an underground organisation. A gun was jabbed into my gut, speaking the threat louder than the man who commanded me to look him in the eyes. Slowly my head lifted up and my eyes were caught by his, holding me there as he gave orders, flooding those orders into my mind, breaking past my sense of freewill.

And then it was like I was no longer me – I could feel my body, see, hear, and smell yet my body was not mine to control. It moved when I did not wish it to move, following orders that I did not wish to be following. My body was released from its vice like hold, and without my permission, headed out of the warehouse.

Alphonse dashed outside as fast as he could, desperately trying to ignore that voice in the back of his head that wanted him to stay and help Jennifer. He couldn't though, not matter how much the voice wanted it, he had promised that he would stay out of trouble as much as possible, and if anything bad happened he would get help while Jennifer stayed behind. That would have worked in all of the foreseeable case they could think of, but what was happening inside the warehouse was something else all together. None of them had known that those people could have that kind of control over Jennifer, to be able to bypass her freewill like that.

That thought made Alphonse feel sick, and disgusted that such a power even existed, but he was soon distracted from that when he came to Mustang and Havoc's location. Speaking quickly, Alphonse explained as best he could what had happened inside that warehouse, hesitating before telling them the final thing Jennifer had said to him. Havoc and Mustang shared a glance, Havoc upset about the soon to be loss of his sister, and Mustang concerned for his lieutenant mixed with something else. Both men were career soldiers though, and knew that their emotions at this news could not be allowed to effect the manner in which they behaved while on duty. If it really came down to capturing or killing Jennifer and losing their lead to the people she only referred to as _them_, then they would do it.

Before anything else could be discussed between the three, a loud explosion sounded from the direction of the warehouse. Flames could be heard crackling in the aftermath, and one voice that rang out so clearly through the unnatural silence the explosion had induced.

"Come out, come, wherever you are!" Jennifer called out, the teasing tone sounding remarkably normal given the knowledge that she was now a mind slave to _those_ people.


	10. Fight Me To The Death!

**Author's Note:** Just to let you all know, I've updated all of the previous chapters, mainly to fix grammer and continuancy errors. (27th May 2011)

* * *

**Flame Vs Flame**

**Chapter 10 – Fight Me To The Death!**

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," Jennifer called out again when the military guys she knew where around here somewhere didn't appear. As much as Jennifer could be a patient person, she had the sense that she didn't have all day to wait for them, nor could she could she go around and explode every inch of the area around the warehouse until she found them. The small corner of her mind that could still think freely wanted her body to stop, to turn around and kill those that had sent her after her own brother. This was impossible though, as it did not have the strength to break the 'safety measures' _those_ people had used to control her.

Gun fire rained down on her from a nearby window, high in the roofline of buildings surrounding the courtyard in front of the warehouse, yet the shots were barely aimed to wound let alone do serious enough damage to slow Jennifer down. That would have to be Hawkeye; the blonde woman who had piercing eyes like those of a sniper, and a sharp tongue to boot from the comment Jennifer had overheard her make to Mustang. Jennifer ripped the sleeve from her right arm and made a point of showing her arm, the slightly pinker than normal flesh the only sign that merely hours ago she had been severely burnt there.

"Aim to kill or you'll never beat me!" The gun fire stopped and a distinctive snap hiss could be heard across the courtyard, Jennifer leaped to the side just in time as flames burned to life where she had been standing. Readying her own flames, Jennifer spun around and spotted the two men dressed in military blues that had stepped out into the open. A small smirk passed over her lips as she recognised them as Mustang and Havoc, the only man that could combat her flame alchemy and... and her brother. The pulled heartstrings would have normally made her hesitate, but today she couldn't and she immediately flung a fire ball in their direction.

A fight broke out then, between Jennifer and the military officers tasked with this mission. Jean put himself out there to fight against his sister, but was unable to put his whole heart behind it wishing that he could have done something to make things turn out differently. Jennifer suffered a number of burns and bullet wounds during the fight, though the combination of them wasn't enough to slow her down let alone stop her in her tracks. It seems that with _those_ people in control of her through the 'safety measures', she would just keep on fighting regardless of the fact that it could make her injuries worse. All the while, in the back of Jennifer's head, the small part of her that was still under her control, fought to break through, to stop fighting and lay down for whatever fate had planned next.

"Stop!" Everything suddenly stopped when Jennifer caught Havoc's arm behind his back, pinning it there in a painful manner to hold him in place. A fireball burnt in her other hand, held dangerously close to his chest. Havoc shifted to pull himself away from the explosive fireball.

"Please, Jen, stop this." He spoke to her, pleading to the part of her that was still his sister. It was hard to believe that only a matter of days ago, he had thought his sister dead – and yet here they were, her suddenly back in his life alive and well, and he instantly that much closer to death then he had ever been in his military career. "We're here to stop those people, remember? You wanted to help us stop them so that they couldn't hurt anyone ever again."

"... Alphonse told you what happened inside the warehouse, right?" Jennifer replied, her voice catching slightly. "They have more control over me than I thought... you have to stop me, brother, because I cannot do it myself."

"Let him go, Jennifer!" Mustang shouted, closing some of the distance between them. Jennifer took a step back, dragging her brother with her.

"Mustang, you have to go after those _people_ now! They are still inside the warehouse, waiting for me, but if I take too long they will leave. You have to get them now, before they can hurt anyone else, before they ruin anymore lives the way they ruined mine!" Jennifer begged, tears ready to build up and stream from her eyes.

"Let the Lieutenant go first!" Mustang commanded, readying his gloved hand to use his flame alchemy. Havoc and Mustang shared a look in the moment it took for Jennifer to speak again, a message shared between them silently, Havoc only giving the slightest of nods.

"I... I can't do that. They want me to bring him with me; they ordered me to give them my brother..." Havoc dropped to the ground then, breaking free of Jennifer's grip - she had barely a moment to realise that her brother had broken free of her grip before Mustang rubbed his gloved fingers together and hit her with a fire attack. Jennifer screamed in pain, a high pitched noise of pure agony, getting hit with a secondary fire attack when she lost control of the fireball she'd been holding. The attack wasn't anywhere near as ferocious as it could have been, even including Jennifer's own fireball. Mustang let up the attack after a moment, and Jennifer collapsed to all fours on the ground, shaking all over, her skin blacken from the burns, scraps of her clothing hanging from her body.

"Jennifer...?" A dry hacking sound could be heard as Jennifer tried to breathe through her scorched lungs. Mustang had held back his attack, knowing that he would have had to hit her harder than that to take her out. He could not do it though, as much as he knew that it was the soldier thing to do, Mustang's heart simply wasn't in it to attack someone following orders in such a way. That and he had to admit that she was a rather attractive woman. Jean worried over his sister, both amazed and horrified at the burns over her skin – how could someone withstand that kind of attack? It couldn't just be whatever experiments _those_ people had done to her, could it?

"Lieutenant." Mustang simply stated the rank, drawing back Havoc's attention with the commanding tone. Understanding the signal, Havoc forced himself to turn from his sister and follow his Colonel towards the warehouse. Suddenly gunshots rang out from the other side of the courtyard, Hawkeye had spotted some figures leaving he warehouse from her snipers-nest. Signalling Mustang, he and his lieutenant rushed towards the fleeing figures, their backup moving in from the other side.

"You could... couldn't..." Jennifer chocked out, collapsing to the ground even as the most minor of her burns started to heal. "You couldn't... fight me to the death... could you... Mustang... you sexist... chauvinist bastard."


	11. Terminate

**Flame Vs Flame**

**Chapter 11 – Terminate**

Jean decided then, as he walked down the long off-white hallway of the hospital for what felt like the hundredth time since his sister had reappeared just over a week ago, that he seriously disliked visiting hospitals. He had been there way too many times in the past week, and each time it had been for the same reason. Nodding to the MP guard seated near the door, he slid it open, and stepped inside closing it quickly behind him. There, lying on the only bed in the room, a single set of handcuffs locking her left arm against the railing, was Jennifer – his long lost sister. The two of them hadn't seen or heard of each other for twelve years when she suddenly appeared again.

It was only when the report came in that Alphonse Elric had been kidnapped and that Edward Elric had been injured in the attack, did Jean know that his sister was back in town. She later explained that she had been sent by a faceless organization that wanted Alphonse for experiments of an inhumane nature, similar to the ones they had done to her since they had kidnapped her just over twelve years ago. When the military had caught up with her, they rescued Alphonse and injured Jennifer, though not after losing some of their own soldiers first. Jennifer had escaped them then, after threatening Colonel Mustang with a fierce display of controlled flame alchemy. It was then that Jean started to realize the level of which the little sister he remembered had changed – and understood that it was something so damaging she was likely never to be free of it.

She had ended up in the hospital later, similar to the way she was now, after being found by the same Elric brothers she had attacked. It was there that she made a deal with Mustang to aid in the capture of members of the faceless organization, and merely hours later they were planning out the arrests. That didn't end up going to plan though, as there were things about Jennifer that even she didn't know. The organization could control her beyond her own freewill, and they used that to send her back against the military – against her older brother. The resulting fight was how she ended up in the hospital, where she had remained in the days since then, her injuries healing at a much slower rate than they had earlier displayed.

"Afternoon, Jean," Jennifer spoke softly, turning her head to face him as he pulled a chair up to the bedside. "I didn't think I'd be having any more visitors today."

"You're my sister; I'll always come see you."

"A military man like you shouldn't have a criminal sister like me." Jean tried to ignore the pained expression that passed over his sister's face.

"You said you didn't think you'd have more visitors today. Who visited you before me?" Jennifer looked away before answering his question.

"Colonel Mustang... and a lawyer." Jean understood exactly what that meant before she had to explain. The arrest charges were going to be followed through, much to Jean's disappointment who had been hoping that after everything she did to help them, the charges would be dropped. "Once I've recovered enough, I'll be standing trial."

"You-I-"

"Jean, please, don't do it to yourself. There is nothing that you can say or do that'll change this, and... and it's no worse than what I deserve. I'll take my punishment, whatever it may be." Jennifer tried to sit up when she saw the despair screw up her brother's features, her injuries worse than they normally would have been so many hours later could not stop her. What could stop her though, was Jean's hand on her shoulder making sure she stayed down, so instead she put her hand on his as a sign of comfort.

"What if I never get to see you again? I just got my baby sister back, Jen, you can't expect me to let you go again so soon."

"I promise, Jean," Jennifer said, smiling. "I won't be gone for that long, and it sure as hell won't be twelve years, even if I'm sentenced to life in prison."

"Jen..."

"Take my wristbands as proof," Jennifer continued. "That way, I'll have to come back and see you." Jean pulled his sister into a hug.

"I'll do whatever I can to help you, Jen, you deserve it."

* * *

Jennifer couldn't believe it. They had sentenced her with four years in prison and 120 hours of community service – a lightened sentence they said, for 'aiding the State Military' in finding and kicking some bad guy ass. There was an upside, at least she had been able to deal a fraction of the payback those people owed her, and her cell was nothing like they had given her – like for starters it didn't smell like some indescribable thing. Nor did it have indescribable goo caking the walls, and there was a bed, not a hard floor with a piece of cloth that was called a bed. A real bed, Jennifer smiled, this all felt like it was going to be a breeze compared to what she had already lived through.

Stopping any continuing thoughts in their tracks, Jennifer focused on something that wouldn't drown her under waves of despair. She wondered what her friend Tora was doing right now, and if she should contact her. That girl could con money off a tree, surely she could talk somebody into livening this place up a little, or perhaps dropping the charges and letting Jennifer out. Then Jennifer realized how that was a bad idea; don't have a criminal lawfully break out another criminal, and Tora would never let Jennifer live it down. Not that Jennifer planned on living it down; she just would rather do it without Tora's comments or whatever else she would do.

It wouldn't hurt Jennifer to stay here for a while anyway, at the very least she deserved to be here, and she had the sense that once she got out things were gonna get crazy. That was at least six months down the road though, after the first parole hearing, so Jennifer had plenty of time to relax and get her headspace right for whatever happens next.

Because there were always things to be happening next.


End file.
